I remember exactly what happened on this day 13 years ago. I was in fourth grade, and had just turned 10. I took the bus home from school, and walked into my house. Just then I saw that a family friend sat on our couch watching the news and crying.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
She looked at me and said, "Selena just died." I didn't believe her.
Now if you don't know who Selena is, she is a Tejano singer of the 1990s. Maybe you've seen the movie, made in 1997, with Jennifer Lopez playing the part.
Selena led an entire genre of music on her shoulders. Tejano, or "Texan" in English, is a mixture of American popular music, traditional Mexican music, country western, the accordion and polka all rolled into one. Selena was considered to be the Queen of Tejano music and the Latin equivalent of Madonna.
I went straight into my room, turned on the radio, and sure enough, it had been true. All local South Texas radio stations were playing her music as a tribute and giving updates on her murderer, who had locked herself inside her red truck at the Days Inn Motel, threatening to commit suicide over what she had just done.
I imagine Selena's death to be similarly shocking as John Lennon or Elvis’ dying. It seems too impossible to be true.
My parents were fans of the singer and saw her rise to fame. I became a fan at age eight when my parents took me to see her sing at a Fourth of July concert in nearby McAllen, Texas. That was the first concert I had ever been to and it didn't take long before I developed a crush on her. She was very pretty, I thought.
She was making it into the big-time, winning numerous Tejano music awards and recording her first English cross-over album to appeal to popular music fans. She was supposed to be the next Gloria Estefan. Her English album, "Dreaming of you," released post-humously, became the fastest-selling Latino album at the time.
Then on March 31, 1995, her life was taken away. Fans called in requesting her songs, and as I listened to them, I started to cry too. My "girlfriend" had just died. Not only did I enjoy her music as a kid, but she was also a good role model for both male and female Latino youth, encouraging us to stay in school, out of drugs and to follow our dreams.
She was killed by her fan club president, Yolanda Saldivar, at a Corpus Christi Motel. Selena met her there to discuss some missing checks Saldivar had stolen, and held Selena at gunpoint. As Selena tried to run out of the hotel room, Saldivar shot her in the back. Selena died in the emergency room later that day. She was only 23. I've read the story of her death many, many times. I reflect upon this every March 31.
Today, 13 years later, as I look back on all the articles, televised broadcasts and magazines of her life, music and death, as I watch the movie "Selena" on an occasional basis, as I see this new generation of English cross-over artists like Shakira and Ricky Martin, as I look at the entire Latino community as a whole, I think Selena had an impact on all of these things. She also had an impact on me. I am the same age now that she was when she died.
I am sure she was not perfect, and I don't think she was the greatest artist that ever lived, but she was real. She exerted her talents to the furthest possible and remained faithful to her family and moral standards. She was happily married, was always laughing and was devoted to her fans. Many of the rising generation of children know who she is. Even my Canadian companion knew who she was.
I often wonder where she would be today if she was alive, and I bet she'd be up there with Mariah, Celine, and Whitney. Regardless, she still remains the Queen of the now nearly-dead Tejano music genre, and remains as the Queen of my heart. My "girlfriend."
Julian Cavazos is a print journalism major. He is from Edinburg, Texas.
Copyright Brigham Young University 31 Mar 2008
